• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.224-229
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• 2016

Recently, polymeric micro-fluidic biochips with numerous micro patterns on the surface were fabricated by injection molding for realizing low-cost mass production of devices. To evaluate the effects of process parameters on large-scale micro-structure replication, a $50{\times}50mm^2$ tool insert with surface structures having a patterns of trapezoidal shapes (height: $30{\mu}m$) was employed. During injection molding, PMMA was used; packing phase parameters and mold temperature were investigated. The replicated surface textures were quantitatively characterized by confocal laser microscopy with 10-nm resolution. The degree of replication at low mold temperatures was found to be higher than that at high mold temperature at the beginning of the packing stage. Thereafter, the degree of replication increased to a greater extent at higher mold temperatures; application of higher mold temperatures improved the degree of replication.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.21-27
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• 2014

The injection molding process has several advantages enabling it to produce large quantities of molded plastic products using a repetitive process. In recent years, it has been necessary to develop an injection molding process with micro/nano-sized patterns for application to the semiconductor industry and to the bio/nano manufacturing industry. In this study, we apply gas pressure to the inside of a mold and consider the gas dissolution phenomenon for a resin filling into a micro pattern with a line structure. Using numerical analysis, we calculate the filling ratio with respect to time for various internal gas pressures and various aspect ratios of the micro-patterns.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2002.02a
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• pp.253-259
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• 2002

Micro cell structures with high aspect ratio were fabricated by injection molding method. The mold inserts had dimension $1.9cm\times8.3cm$ composed of a lot of micro posts and were fabricated by LIGA process. The size of the micro posts was $157{\mu}m\times157{\mu}m\times500{\mu}m$ and the gaps between two adjacent posts were $50{\mu}m$. Using Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) injection molding was performed. The key experimental variables were temperature, pressure, and time. By controlling these, good shaped mim cell structures with $50{\mu}m$ in wall thickness and $500{\mu}m$ in depth were obtained. In order to understand micro molding mechanism, shape changes of molded PMMA were studied with experimental variables. And the durability of mold insert was investigated, too. The results show that the most important factor in molding processes was the mold temperature that is closely related to the filling of the melt into the micro cavity. And the holding time before cooling showed a great effect on the quality of molded PMMA.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06c
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• pp.47-52
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• 2001

Micro-injection molding and microfluidic devices with the help of MEMS technologies including the LIGA process are expected to play important roles in. micro-system industries, in particular the bioapplication industry, in the near future. Understanding fluid flows in micro-channels is important since micro-channels are typical geometry in various microfluidic devices and mold inserts for micro-injection molding. In the present study, both experimental and numerical studies have been carried out to understand the detailed flow phenomena in micro-channel filling process. Three sets of micro-channels of different thickness were fabricated and a flow visualization system was also developed to observe the filling flow into the micro-channels. Experimental flow observations were extensively made to find the effects of channel width and thickness, and effects of surface tension and volume flow rate and so on. And a numerical analysis system has been developed to simulate the filling flow into micro-channels with the surface tension effect taken into account. Discussed are the flow visualization experimental observations along with the predictability of the numerical analysis system.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.8-14
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• 2023

In this study, basic research was conducted on manufacturing technology of thick-walled light guide a component that controls the light source of automobile lamps. As a preliminary study for manufacturing the final injection molded parts, a model for analyzing the influence of micro patterns on light guides is presented. The optical characteristics of the light guide were analyzed according to the change of the curvature radius of the micro-optical pattern, and the injection molding characteristics of the light guide according to the change of injection molding conditions were analytically evaluated. It was confirmed that the luminance uniformity improves as the R value decreases for changes in the micro-pattern R value, but it was confirmed that there are technical limitations in actual injection mold core processing and high-replication injection molding. Injection molding analysis showed that cooling channel design is very important compared to general injection molding due to thick-wall characteristics and thickness variation. It was also confirmed that the cooling channel has a great influence on the cycle time and birefringence result due to residual stress. As a result of analyzing the influence of filling time, holding condition, and cooling on shrinkage, it was found that the cooling water temperature has a significant effect on the shrinkage of ultra-fine light guide parts, and the holding condition also has a significant effect.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1982-1988
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• 2002

Micro-injection molding and microfluidic devices with the help of MEMS technologies including the LIGA process are expected to play important roles in micro-system industries, in particular the bio-application industry, in the near future. Understanding fluid flows in micro-channels is important since micro-channels are typical geometry in various microfluidic devices and mold inserts for micro-injection molding. In the present study, Part 1, an experimental investigation has been carried out to understand the detailed flow phenomena in micro-channel filling process. Three sets of micro-channels of different thickness (40um,30um and 2011m) were fabricated using SU-8 on silicon wafer substrate. And a flow visualization system was developed to observe the filling flow into the micro-channels. Experimental flow observations are extensively made to find the effects of pressure, inertia force, viscous force and surface tension. A dimensional analysis for experimental results was carried out and several relationships A dimensionless parameters are obtained.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.55-59
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• 2005

Micro injection molding analysis for microneedle fabrication was performed in the present study. The dimensions of width and thickness for microneedle are 600um, 500um, respectively. A delivery system based on guidelines for traditional injection molding was designed for four-cavities molding system. To investigate the effects of processing conditions in the mirconeedle fabrication, injection molding analysis using commercial code was performed. It was shown that the total injection time has a significant effect on the fabrication of microneedles.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.436-441
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• 2005

In this study, precision injection molding analysis for BGA connector fabrication was performed. A BGA connector model with rectangular micro-holes were introduced to investigate the effect of mirco patterns on the injection molding process. Dual domain(2.5D) mesh and full 3D mesh for BGA connector model were prepared to perform precision injection molding analysis. To verify the Present analysis, experiments of injection molding were performed based on the results of the analysis. It was shown that the type of mesh has a significant effect on the flow pattern of BGA connector

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.8-13
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• 2016

Despite technological advance, there have been several troubles in photo reaction injection molding (photo RIM) to produce ultra thin light guide panels (LGPs). In this study, micro leakage problem at cavity edge during photo RIM was investigated numerically. In order to obtain optimal processing conditions, we regulated inlet pressure of injected resin at the cavity edge and figured out micro leakage behaviors. At low inlet pressure (less than 100 Pa), though the micro leakage problem was not occurred, another problem, short shot due to not enough driving force, was appeared More than 1,000 Pa of the inlet pressure, injected resin was rapidly leaked through the micro gap at the cavity edge. Finally, we obtained optimal inlet pressure around 600 ~ 1,000 Pa. At this region, injected resin fully filled the cavity without micro leakage behavior. Based on the present study, further comparative investigations with experimental photo RIM should be performed to find optimal processing conditions for produce ultra thin LGPs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.579-580
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• 2008